Lecanemab has as been approved for use in the UK, but will not be available on the NHS. The drug is shown to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence ( Nice ) said the benefits of lecanemab are too small to justify the significant cost to the NHS, while the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has said it is efficient at slowing Alzheimer ’s disease.
Lecanemab is an antibody drug that has been shown to slow down the early stages of Alzheimer’s. It works by binding to a protein known as amyloid, which builds up in the brains of people living with the disease. The drug has been developed by Eisai, a Japanese pharmaceutical company, and is sold under the brand name Leqembi.
How effective is lecanemab? Lecanemab been shown to successfully remove amyloid build-up from the brains of people living with early Alzheimer’s disease. For people taking the drug, 18 month-long trials showed the decline in thinking and memory skills slowed down by 27%. It also slowed down the decline in quality of life by up to 56%.
These trial results were hailed by experts as a milestone as it was a first time a drug had shown the underlying mechanism of the disease could be slowed. What has the MHRA said? The MHRA said lecanemab is the first treatment for Alzheimer’s licensed for use in UK that shows some evidence of efficacy in slowing progression of the disease. Julian Beach, MHRA interim executive director, Healt.